Auction, Estate Sales & Appraisal Services

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. We buy or accept for consignment quality items from Estates, Antique Shops, Antique Dealers

Sometimes we just go "Pickin" (American Pickers style)as seen on TV

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Make sure the Auctioneer has an active Auction Business license & active Auctioneers License ie: (AB43 - AU14)
You can check with the State of Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation in Tallahassee, Fl to confirm or go to www.myflorida.com
They will also be able to inform you of any complaints that have been filed against the Auctioneer or Auction Company

Ask for plenty of references & check them out !!!!

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Ask the Auctioneer to explain the Auction consignment process at length with you & inquire about comission rates attend one of their Auctions to see how they are conducted & how the Auctioneer handles any situations that may come up

We have a specialty item buyer data base, so that when unususl items are consigned we can contact these specialty item buyers & let them know that items of their interests will be in upcoming auctions.

Make sure all lots are listed on the consignment contract, the amount of comission that will be charged & the date that the lots will be sold

Ask when consignment checks will be sent & make sure you get a copy of the contract.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Consumers should always ask first for references, licenseing status & ask Auctioneer if these are they type of items that his sale is geared to & if he is knowledgeable in this field.

Ask how long he has been in business

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. They need to make sure that they really want to sell the items in question and are ready to consign them once they understand the Auction process.


If they are just gathering information that is fine, but other than that they are just wasting their time & the Auctioneers time

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. We are a service orientated company !!!!!

Our motto is: We will do anything for a client as long as it's not - illegal - immoral or fattening

We go the extra mile to help our consignors get top dollar for their goods by offering pick-up service or apointments for them to bring their consignments to us.

The better quality, higher end items are photographed and the images are posted to our website - www.rhauction.com - with up to a 40 letter caption. There is no charge for this service, it is built into our commission rate.

Given the proper time frame, we research consigned items that we are not familiar with to establish provanance

We also have a data base set up for specialty buyers Ie; model trains - glassware - sterling silver - gold - costume jewelry - automobiles - clocks - victrolas - ephemera & etc.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. We enjoy working with people !!!

If we can ever say that we are succesful at this business it's because we treat people like we would want to be treated

Every day is a different day each with it's own challenges & rewards

We get a lot of satisfaction knowing that no one could have done a better job for that particular client than we did

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Most consignors frequently ask. what is the approximate value of my merchandise & when will I receive a check ??

We don't give pie in the sky valuations of consignors merchandise & quote only reasonable expectations

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. We once sold an - option to purchase - contract on a piece of real estate at Auction

The guardian that we were liquidating the personal property for, had contacted her groups of real estate investors (she did not beleive in Realtors) on a Monday morning & asked them to preview the Real Estate during the week & call her with an offer by Friday PM

Her high bid was $ 202,500 on Friday PM

On the following Monday morning as she was about to call the high bidder to have them bring a contract, she was contaced then by one of the real estate investors inquiring if he could still submit a bid.

When she declined, he asked if she had a signed contract or deposit yet, when she replied no, he demanded the name of her lawyer and threatened to take her to the Elderly Law Court and tell the Judge, that she was not a fit Gardian, because she had no contract or deposit yet and would not accept his bid even though it was late

She contacted me for a solution

I contacted her lawyer and had him draw up an - option to purchase - contract stating that the owner of the contract could buy the property for 202,500 plus the bid price of the contract - requiring my signature - to be a legal & valid document- subject to court approval with a 30 day closing deadline once court approved and told him that I would Auction it off.

We contacted all of the groups that had she had invited to bid the property & sent them a sample copy of the - option to purchase - contract and requested them to be at the property in the back yard, under the oak tree at noon the following Friday, if they wanted to bid on the option to purchase.

All four parties showed up, including the troublemaker. I turned on my tape recorder & read the option to purchase contract & asked everyone if they understood that I was selling a piece of paper that required my witnessed signature to be a legal document

We sold the document at Auction for $ 72,000 in less than five minutes

The Guardian witnessed my signature on the contract, the buyers brought their real estate contract with them - filled in the numbers and my wife witnessed their signature and the Guardians signature on the real estate contract and we were eating lunch in less than ten minutes.

My commision was a % of the bid price.

The Judge & Guardian were both overwhelmed & pleased that we had not left $ 72.00 on the table.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. We wish they knew about the all the Ethics & Integrity guidelines that we uphold to run an Honest business

We wish they knew about all the hard work & hours of preparation that it takes to put on an Auction & all of the paper work after the sale.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I had previously sold Welding Supplies & Safety Equipt. for several years.
A new competitor entered the picture and started selling his wares on a cost plus basis - usually 5% above cost.
As the market declined & we waited for him to have to close his doors, our income declined & we knew it was time to look for another line of employment

My wife Carol & I took three and one half years to build or home & needed to to decorate our fireplace hearth with some primitive items

We went to Auctions to find these items !!!

Got caught up in it, went to Auction School in 1985 & the rest is history !!!!!

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. At the present time our the Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation does not require any type of continuing education to maintain our licenses, but we attend as many Auctions as we can to keep our finger on the pulse of the industry and to determine what's selling & what isn't.

The National Auctioneers Association continually hosts online Webinars for its members to upgrade their knowledge and to encourage member networking

Yearly conventions are held throught the country with a wide range of knowledgeable guest speakers and vendors displaying their newly developed softwares, advances in P A systems and other inovations.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Over the past decade many new items are being introduced and sold at Auction !!!

Who would of thought about EBAY

Real Estate - Bank Forclosures - Time Shares - Bank Notes - Theme Parks - Golf Courses - Everything Imaginable

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. Back in Sept. 2001 we went to a computerized registration
& clerking system. It speeds up the Auction process & makes closing the sale much easier.
It required a lot of training and a lot of equipt. to move, pack and haul with each monthly sale.

Inital investment back then was about $ 1,500.00 dollars but worth it.
We use a battery back-up system in case we lose power, we can run the laptop, printer and data entry terminal for almost an hour

Our latest investment a year ago was a wireless radio system between the data terminal and the laptop(no hardwire). It has a quarter mile range and works with a 400 watt power inverter and marine battery.
We have the data terminal and system on a cart and roll it along as we do STORAGE WAR type Auctions onsite at various moving and storage facilities locally.
The investment was nearly $ 2,800.00 but again worth it

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. Our pricing system is very simple - We work on a % of what an item sells for, that's our incentive to do our best.

The more we sell an item for, the more the consignor makes - the more we make !!!

We charge a 10% Buyers Premium + applicable sales tax on each item sold

The 10% buyers Premium allows us to give consignors a better consignment rate and helps us get better merch. to sell

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Simple - be a people person with a strong back, weak mind that likes to put in many long hours with sometimes short pay and doesn't grumble about it !!!

Q. What is your greatest strength?

A. We are a small Mom & Pop business !!

Our greatest strength is in the Lord and our family.
We have been in business for almost 27 years.

Sometimes people ask - what type of items will be in your next Auction ???

Our answer - We are trusting the Lord that there will be a next Auction

Both our daughters and their husbands worked in the business for several years, untill our grandchildren were born.

They still work in an emergency when needed.
Our grandson is 15 is ready to be part of the third generation

His day care on Auction set-up days was a furniture pad on the floor of the hall we rented with a blanket on top of it, later he graduated to a play pen and finally to a small tv set with video tapes

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Question - Does anyone ever pay to much for an item at Auction ????

Answer - No, you only pay one bid higher than the person that bid on the item previously !!!

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Question - what are the guaranties on the items that you buy at Auction ???

Answer - All items sold at auction are usually sold
AS IS - WHERE IS - WITH NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED

Be at an Auction early enough to hear all of the TERMS & CONDITIONS of the Auction before bidding starts

Listen carefully to the Auctioneer - If you have questions concerns or don't understand ask questions or don't bid !!